Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06JAKARTA8507
2006-07-06 11:19:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Jakarta
Cable title:  

DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUPS

Tags:  PTER PREL PREF PGOV CE ID 
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VZCZCXRO0446
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #8507/01 1871119
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 061119Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6879
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 9699
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0887
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1193
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 9890
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0940
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0723
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 008507 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2016
TAGS: PTER PREL PREF PGOV CE ID
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUPS

REF: A. STATE 94541 (SRI LANKAN PEACE PROCESS)

B. 05 JAKARTA 12720 (DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON LTTE
ACTIVITIES)

Classified By: Marc L. Desjardins, Political Counselor. Reason: 1.4 (b
, d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 008507

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2016
TAGS: PTER PREL PREF PGOV CE ID
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON SRI LANKA CONTACT GROUPS

REF: A. STATE 94541 (SRI LANKAN PEACE PROCESS)

B. 05 JAKARTA 12720 (DEMARCHE TO INDONESIA ON LTTE
ACTIVITIES)

Classified By: Marc L. Desjardins, Political Counselor. Reason: 1.4 (b
, d)


1. (C) Summary. On July 6, officials at the Indonesian
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) expressed interest in our
proposal for creation of two new contact groups on the Sri
Lankan conflict, and will let us know in the coming weeks
about possible Indonesian participation. They said that the
Sri Lankan Ambassador had met with Foreign Minister Wirajuda
July 5 to urge for more timely GOI reaction to reports of
LTTE arms transshipments through Indonesia. They also
reported that over the last month or so, about a hundred
Tamils arriving in Jakarta on valid tourist visas had
demanded asylum. The DFA is investigating the circumstances
under which the visas were issued, and is tightening its visa
issuance procedures for Sri Lankans. End summary


2. (C) We met July 6 with Mohammad Asruchin, Director of the
Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs South and Central
Asia Directorate, and India/Sri Lanka Country Officer Winanto
Adi to urge that Indonesia become a member of the proposed
contact group on arms transshipments to the Tamil Tigers
(LTTE) (reftel A). We said that we are redoubling our own
efforts to salvage the Sri Lankan peace process, and were
urging the international community to help us in this.
Indonesia, we said, could be a valued member of the proposed
contract group on arms movements because of past patterns of
LTTE arms shipments through Southeast Asia (reftel B).
Asruchin said he would convey our initiative for the new
contact groups to higher levels of the DFA, and inform us of
the GOI's decision whether to participate in the coming weeks.


3. (C) Asruchin responded that our demarche was timely, since
the GOI has been more focused recently on Sri Lanka. On July
5, the Sri Lankan Ambassador had called on Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirajuda. The Ambassador, he said, had expressed

concern that Indonesia was not responding rapidly enough to
reports of arms reaching the LTTE through Indonesia.
Asruchin acknowledged that on at least one recent occasion,
the Sri Lankans had approached the Department of Foreign
Affairs (DFA) with specific information about arms
transshipments through Indonesian waters, but by the time the
DFA had coordinated with the Indonesian intelligence services
and military, it was unable to track the shipment in
question. Asruchin said that in the past, the LTTE had had
contacts with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM, which has since
signed a peace accord with the GOI),so there was a
possibility that transshipments were still occurring. The
GOI, Asruchin said, was therefore seeking to improve internal
coordination in order to be more responsive to the Sri
Lanka's concerns. He noted also that Indonesia and Sri Lanka
were forming a bilateral commission that would meet later
this year or early in 2007 to address a broad bilateral
agenda.


4. (C) Asruchin went on to say that Indonesia was concerned
about Sri Lanka for another reason. Over the past month or
so, about 100 Tamils had arrived in Jakarta on tourist visas
and demanded asylum. They were now being housed in an
immigration facility in West Jakarta, and the GOI was
attempting to process them through the UN High Commission on
Refugees Office. The GOI had requested the assistance of the
International Organization for Migration with this. Hinting
at malfeasance or worse in the Indonesian Embassy in Colombo,
Asruchin said that it was unclear how and why the Tamils had
obtained their visas, and noted that the DFA was
investigating. He said that the DFA would likely tighten its
visa issuance procedures. He said that Jakarta already must
approve all Sri Lankan visa applications, but that dossiers
from their embassy in Colombo need to be more complete.


5. (C) In a separate conversation with the UNHCR branch
office in Jakarta, Shinji Kubo, Head of Protective Services,
told our human rights officer that they recently registered
some 140-150 newly arrived Sri Lankans. Most of the Sri
Lankans were young males between the ages of 16 and 20 and
based their asylum claim on a fear of Sri Lankan security
forces and harassment as a result of the ongoing conflict.
Kubo speculated that the GOI was nervous for two reasons:
that the Sri Lankans arrived in Indonesia in an "irregular
manner" pointing to an Indonesian crime syndicate and

JAKARTA 00008507 002 OF 002


corruption; and the potential for a flood of Sri Lankan
asylum applicants should their fellow nationals successfully
resettle in Indonesia.


6. (SBU) Kubo said that the recent Sri Lankan cases was the
equivalent of a two year workload for the UNCHR branch office
in Jakarta, and therefore, the Sri Lankans would have
temporary protection in Indonesia by default because the GOI
will not forcefully deport them. In the meantime, the GOI
has plans to relocate the Sri Lankans from West Jakarta to
Makassar where facilities can better accommodate the group.
PASCOE